<p>Our oldest DS2013's sleep habits are of concern to us. His midnight bedtime has now often become a much later time, even though he needs to be up by 6:15 am school days. He's napping for an hour or two after school, and sleeping until 11 or 11:30 am on weekends. He's 18, and it's hard to effectively nag him into an earlier bedtime - especially since we're asleep often by 10 pm. Any advice? Comparable experiences? Suggestions?</p>
<p>Those long naps are probably creating a pattern that leaves him awake far past his usual bedtime. How is he functioning otherwise? If he’s functioning well and his total hours of sleep are sufficient, he’s probably fine with his odd schedule. If he is not functioning well, see if you can get him to skip the long after school naps so he’ll be tired at reasonable hour.</p>
<p>Sounds like all the teens I have known.</p>
<p>is he having problems because of his sleep habits? if not it is probably no big deal. you can have him go to a doctor who specializes in that issue and have a sleep study…to make sure there is not an underlying problem. I am sure he would be thrilled with that idea.</p>
<p>Sounds perfectly normal to me. Both of my sons (now in college) did that exact same thing. I’m not even sure what time they went to bed during the week as we went to bed about 10 pm also. Heck, on weekends, they sometimes slept until 1 or 2 pm!! We often had kids sleep-over on weekends and every single one of them had the same sleep pattern.</p>
<p>If he seems happy and otherwise “normal” (you know your child) I wouldn’t worry about it. Believe me, that sleep schedule gets even weirder in college but at least we don’t have to witness it!</p>
<p>Both of my daughters have this problem as did I at their age and my father before me. Our oldest daughter was having some behavior problems at home and not living up to her potential at school so we went to a family therapist who recommended she take Melatonin over the counter. We started with the lowest dose and six months later bumped it up one level. She takes it one hour before she wants to go to bed and with that and other changes involving responsibility she is doing much better. In our household we leave it up to her if she wants to take it on nonschool nights, most times she doesn’t and stay up really late and get up around noon. I hope this helps.</p>
<p>in most cases it is perfectly normal for kids to become night owls as they enter their teens, due to hormonal changes and changes in their circadian rhythym and internal biological clocks. Unfortunately our world doesn’t usually accommodate the changes in their sleep cycles (for instance, school will often start earlier for our late-to-bed teens than younger kids) so most teens end up getting too little sleep.</p>
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<p>[Adolescent</a> Sleep Needs - The Sleepy Teen](<a href=“http://www.sleepdex.org/adolescent.htm]Adolescent”>http://www.sleepdex.org/adolescent.htm)</p>
<p>Schools need to start later!</p>
<p>Actually, our high schools do have the latest starting time–guess they know kids pretty well!
Unless there are major (not minor) life-interrupting behavioral changes you’ve noticed–say GREAT apathy in school work, beyond the norm irritability, changes in grades, lack of interest in social stuff, I would not worry about it at all. Please don’t interrupt the afternoon nap–I survived as a teen on those.</p>
<p>Unless it’s causing problems in his life, let him sleep late on the weekend. I had a job that often had me coming in at 11:30 or midnight. During the week, I had to be up by 5:30 am in order to make it to school on time. On the weekends, my dad used to hate it when I’d sleep until 1 or 2 - so of course, being the moderate, reasonable person he is, he decided he’d start waking me up at 8:30 am, and he wouldn’t let me sleep anywhere in the house. I got to where I’d drive out to a fishing spot and sleep in my car. He didn’t know that, of course, or he wouldn’t have let me go. DANGEROUS. But I was SOOOOO tired. I couldn’t make him understand.</p>
<p>So the collective opinion is not to be worried? Spring break’s been a pattern of sleeping until noon, daytime napping, staying up till 2 pm, cranky. Waiting for college to start…</p>
<p>So the collective opinion is not to be worried? Spring break’s been a pattern of sleeping until noon, daytime napping, staying up till 2 pm, cranky. Aren’t these signs of depression too?</p>
<p>Yea, although it might not be anywhere near perfect, that sounds really normal to me.</p>
<p>You asked about signs of depression. Does he have OTHER signs? Is there something troubling him? That’s why everyone was asking about the REST of his life.</p>
<p>I did this in high school. Still do it in college. It’s nbd and I’ve found I’m much much more productive at night.</p>
<p>No, those don’t really sound like depression signs. They sound like teenager signs.</p>
<p>Higgins–you’ll know when to worry when you cook bacon and nobody responds…
(not being flippant…but what you relate is on the good side!..)</p>
<p>My son’s preference is to stay up late and sleep late. He did well in high school and college, so I never interfered with his schedule. He was very honest about this on his college housing form and was paired with another night owl. He did manage to wake up for 8am classes when he needed to.</p>